Standing Between the Light and Dark
by Feonyx
Summary: Karel isn't quite how Nino remembers him from their journey, but he does have news about Jaffar and the legend of the Dragon's Fangs. Unfortunately, none of that explains why a Black Fang warrior wants Legault so very dead...
1. The Days That Followed

**Standing Between the Light and Dark**

**Chapter One: The Days That Followed**           

                Athos stood before the terror at the Dragon's Gate, speaking words of ancient power.  The earth rumbled and flames roared up all around the army that had gathered to the three Lycian lords.  This was the final moment, where all their travels had led them, and now the fate of Lycia and all the human world would be decided.

                Nino stood in the midst of it all, feeling more than ever like a little girl in an adventure far too real.  Even her worst nightmares of what life in the Black Fang could be like were nothing compared to this.  It was hard enough to remember to breathe.

                "Look out!"  Rebecca shouted, too late to help.  But Pent heard the shout, saw what Nino had not, and leapt in the path of spellcasting.  A dark druid-morph on a distant pillar chanted in a wordless howl, but the mage-general was strong enough to resist even Eclipse.

                "Pent!" Louise shouted as the shadows broke against him.

                "He'll be all right," Rebecca said confidently.  "Here."  Louise caught the thrown longbow, and the two snipers returned fire on the druid with satisfying accuracy.

                "Stay at the back," Guy said darkly.  "Oh, yes, wonderful plan.  Matthew, how do you get me into these things?"

                "Look at it this way," the thief replied as a wall of generals marched on them.  "Your choices are to be here right now, or to have died months ago when we beat the stuffing out of your old army."

                "Funny," Raven remarked.  "I don't even have revenge to regret losing, now.  But I'd still rather not die."  He looked at the others.  "So, who's been carrying an armorslayer and just didn't mention it until now?  Has to be someone, right?"

                The generals unlocked their tree-thick lances from their armor.  It was like watching a mountain step into an arena fight.  Guy braced himself, trying to remember some alternative Zen techniques for not getting hit, because somehow being one with the lance sounded _exactly_ like what he wanted to avoid.

                Then pounding hoofbeats broke his concentration and he decided to go with the famous method of defending by not being at the dangerous place.  In other words, he sprinted to the side of the chasm bridge just in time to keep from becoming road material.

                Paladins crashed into the generals like waves striking cliffs walls- except that these were halberd-wielding waves, and they were making short work of their armored foes.  "Never fear, fair Priscilla!"  Sain shouted over the sounds of battle.  "Your brother is safe!  Are you watching?"

                A bolt of Thunder turned the lance hurtling toward Sain's back into a stream of molten silver on the stone.  "Yes," the Valkyrie replied, a little bit smugly.  "Even when you aren't."

                "Strange girl," Sain murmured with feeling, nearly hypnotised.

                "Back to work!" Raven snapped from behind the paladin.  He glared at the horse beneath him again.  "I hate having to be rescued."  He stabbed the closest enemy with his silver sword to let off his feelings.

                "_Forblaze__!_"  Athos roared again, hurling the power of earth and fire at the snarling dragon.  His magic assaulted it terribly, but the dragon shook off its beatings and counterattacked with a vengeance.  The flametongue was more raw power than even an archsage could deflect, and he staggered under the blow.  Power flashed from Serra and Renault's Physic staves, flying to heal Athos, but he couldn't stand for much longer against a fire dragon.

                Its claw lashed out- _clang_ -and was intercepted.  The mighty blade Armads held against even draconian muscle.  "Eliwood, now!  We can't hold out much longer!" Hector shouted.

                A fireball flew- _whip, slice_ -and was cloven by the only warrior fast enough to wield a sword against flames.  The Sol Katti glowed red in Lyn's hand.  "This is it, Eliwood!"

                The Knight Lord looked up from his place in the battle.  Fighting everywhere, chaos, smoke, death… couldn't it end… somehow…  All he wanted was to rest, to stop fighting, to stop everything…

                Music played in the midst of his weariness, a simple but mighty melody that reminded him of all he needed to know.  Lights flashed like a broken rainbow as Nils' flute song gave him strength.  Usually it ended quickly, but this time the dragonboy played on.

                Nino stepped out from Pent's protection, as if called by the moment of destiny.  "Nino!" barked a familiar voice, and she spun to see Jaffar locked in combat with a swordmaster-morph.  "Run."  That was all he said, and then the world was red and black and the grey of steel and the dark of killing and the dragon breathed out _whoomph_ and for one brief moment Durandal was truly the Blazing Sword…

                Nino did not jolt awake.  The memory-dream slid into oblivion and she opened her eyes for real, like a fallen warrior returning to life.  Darkness was still all around her, but instead of the hopeless black of the Dragon's Gate, this was the soothing blue of night that would soon turn to morning.

                She reached out and grabbed the berry-necklace off her side table.  Rebecca had shown her how to make them, and the feel of it reminded her of the days when she had been surrounded by friends who would have died for her.

                And almost had, she remembered.  Even the necklace reminded her of those moments in the final battle when Rebecca had to protect Pent because the sage had to save her, and the time Fiora had swooped through the castle halls to snatch her from a general's grasp, and even when Lyn had first found her in Bern, cutting down the monk that Nino had been battling- and losing to.

                She picked a berry off the necklace and ate it.  They were dry now, but twice as sweet as they had been the day they were picked.  The young mage would get no more sleep tonight.

                "You're distracted," Erk remarked the next morning.  When Nino didn't even blink, Erk realised how right he was.  She sat at her desk, chin resting in her hands, staring blankly at the tome before her.  "Basically, if we can just find enough rabbits, it should be entirely possible for you to cast Excalibur without bothering to speak a single word, because of the inverse philotic effect, as long as tomorrow's Tuesday."  Nino flipped a page, but her eyes didn't scan across it to read the words or even study the pictures.

                "What are you talking about?" asked Canas, looking up from his book across the library.

                "Also, I'm planning a day trip to the stars this weekend, and you might be able to come along, but we'll have to make sure you don't offend the Queen of the Faery People, so you'll need to colour your hair pink and only wear robes made from dandelion leaves."

                "It's not working," the dark mage observed.

                Erk coughed.  "Jaffar."

                "What?" asked Nino, head jerking up and eyes instantly alert.

                "Mm-_hm_," Canas murmured, and went back to reading.

                "…Oh," Nino realised.  "Sorry.  I… didn't sleep well last night."

                "But you aren't going to tell us why," Erk predicted.

                "Or what you were dreaming about," Canas added, still reading.

                "You are, in fact, going to be vague on whether or not you were even dreaming," Erk continued.

                "Just like last time," Canas finished.

                "…I didn't know it was that obvious," Nino mumbled, embarrassed.

                "It isn't," the sage assured her.

                "We're smart," the druid explained.

                "But not geniuses," Erk mused.  After a second's silence, he looked over at Canas, who shrugged and dove back into the pages.  The sage sighed.  He thought everything would get to be so much simpler once he had the power of a Guiding Ring.  Well, obviously it would stay complicated until the dragon business was finished, but then a nice life teaching magically talented students in Etruria, that would be a pleasant, useful, and above all _calm_ job.

                "I'll try to pay attention, really," Nino assured her mentor, seeing his grim expression.

                "No," Erk decided, "we've had enough book learning for a while.  Though it's against my better judgment, I think we'll spend today outside."

                "You're really going to have to get over this fear of the sun, Erk," said Canas.

                "It's not the sun.  It's the thought that at any moment I could turn around and a certain pink-haired bishop will be there ready to drag me into another spirit-forsaken adventure," Erk replied.  He looked around.  "Where's Nino?"

                "She left roundabout the word 'sun'," Canas informed him.  With another sigh, Erk bounded out of the library, jogging to catch up with his energetic apprentice.  Canas smiled, and then returned to trying to find where he had left off in the last paragraph-long word.

                "I don't have to learn anything, do I?" asked Nino, almost dancing in the bright sunshine and wind-ruffled long grass.  She turned an anguished look on Erk, who was reminded cringingly of Serra.

                "Yes, you do," he answered firmly.  "But we'll be practical about it.  If you want to do any travelling to broaden your perspectives as a mage, you'll need to know how to live off the land."  Erk produced a few thin books from his robes, and removed a single page.  "These are some of the most useful plants that grow in these parts.  It couldn't hurt to do a little reading, so just find them and bring them back to me.  And take this."

                Nino, who was already working hard on the descriptions of the plants, caught the second book almost reflexively.  "Oh, why does everything have to be scholarly…" she began, and then noticed the yellow bolt emblazoned on the book's cover.  Thunder.  "Thanks, Erk!"

                Watching her go, Erk picked a comfortable section of hill and started making notes on the dragonflies that darted about in the warm winds.

                "Ma-ndr-ag-ora," Nino read as quickly as she could.  "Di-sting…ing… inguish-able…"

                In full, the entry read:  _Mandragora__.  Distinguishable by its serrated leaf clusters and the corpses of the unwary scattered about locations where they flourish.  Ensure roots have been carefully beaten to death with a heavy bludgeoning weapon before removing completely from ground.  In cases where maximum potency is necessary, stun instead with small electrical charge or by coating leaves with juices from hot chili.  Will cure nearly any affliction humans and dragons are capable of having (except petrifaction by mandragora cry) if properly brewed.  Recommended precautions: do not live in a country where mandragoras grow._

                "Wow," Nino muttered, because if she was anything, she was the kind of person to talk to herself.  "Erk must really trust in my abilities to send me looking for this!"

                Hours later, Nino was still roaming the hills, finding and gathering from Erk's list.  She never did find any mandragora, which was probably just as well, because it would have made things even more complicated in the Reglay forest.

                The sun was still high in the sky when the mage started into the trees, on the hunt for a nine-segmented bluish-petalled flower that Erk's notes called 'remember-me-usually's.  It had never occurred to her that there could be danger in the land around Castle Reglay.  A lot of things never occurred to Nino, but she survived anyway.  This would be one of the more difficult times.

                Deep in the forest, when the intertwining branches formed a sun-blocking canopy that made afternoon look more like twilight, Nino found trouble for perhaps the sixty-eighth time in her life.  For a while now she had been edging towards a fire up ahead, trying to see who had set up camp.  Dangerous or not, some of the folks in the woods were here for the seclusion, and Nino knew very well that she obliterated seclusion like a cannon disturbs silence.

                Then she caught sight of a familiar figure, and all worries fled.  Possibly because they could see what she was walking into.

                "Uncle Legault!" Nino called loudly, and the former Black Fang thief looked up to see her, something like terror on his face.  Then she realised that he hadn't been resting against a tree, he had been using it as cover… and those were some large and unfriendly-looking warriors by the fire.

                They saw her too.  "Look who's decided to stop by and make us comfy, Ivan," said one of the men.  They were huge.  Their weapons were bigger.

                "Well what are the chances, Garet?" asked the other.  Both stood, smirking in a way that Nino knew couldn't possibly mean anything good.  Garet was short, but still taller than Nino, and about as broad across the shoulders as a horse.  Ivan was simply a giant in every sense of the word.

                "Don't know," said Garet.  "But things are looking up now that we've got some company."

                Nino started to step backwards, slowly and carefully.  Their hands flew to axe handles.  This was getting worse at an incredible speed.  With a sudden rush of terror, Nino noticed that there was no thief by the tree.  She must have imagined him out of shadows and brush.

                "I'm… I wasn't… didn't mean to disturb you," Nino explained.  "I may be a little bit lost…"

                "Good," said Ivan.

                "Lost can explain so much," Garet agreed.  "Keeps people from asking too many questions."

                "I really don't think I've got anything you want…" Nino insisted.  The warriors looked at each other like she had suggested they were sheep on unicycles.

                A blue shadow dropped from the canopy between Nino and the advancing warriors.  "Hello there.  Remember me?"

                "It's him!" Garet growled.

                "We remember you, all right, Legault," Ivan snarled.  "But those days are over."

                "Oh, please," said Legault.  "Those days never _existed_.  But I'm still here to talk about second chances."

                "Good," said Ivan.

                "We're agreeable when it comes to second chances," Garet replied.  Everything about him, including his steel axe, leered.  "Push off, windy, leave the girl here, and we'll let you go free."

                Legault sighed.  Then, after a moment's consideration, he blurred.  Daggers flashed in his hands and Garet staggered back, flailing ineffectively with his axe.  As he fell, and Ivan started the backswing on a devastating sweep that never got any further.  Legault leapt and spun in the air, the triple-gashing attack that had given him his name.

                "Hurricane," he told the dead warrior, rather morosely.  "Not 'windy'.  Now what are you doing here, Nino?"

                "Thank you!" she yelped, hugging the thief, who pulled back reflexively from the strangely affectionate gesture.  Thieves are not an emotional sort.  "That was just like the old days, Uncle Legault!"

                "Too much," he agreed, relaxing a little.  "They were former Black Fang, just like me.  Like you too, I suppose.  And not the first ones I've killed.  I'm starting to think there's no place for me now that the Fang is gone completely."

                "Oh, stop it," said Nino, almost bubbly again.  "Anyway, I'm _supposed_ to be here, I live in Castle Reglay now.  What are you doing here?"

                "Reckoning," Legault replied grimly.  "But that's always the same.  This time, I'm here to see you, so it's a good thing I got here before you did."

                "For me?  I knew you'd come back, Uncle Legault."

                "You remember I'm not your uncle in any way at all, right?  Never mind, there's more important business."

                "Business?"  Nino frowned.  "What kind of business are you talking about?  …You're not taking contracts, are you?  The Black Fang is gone."

                "Hah!"  Legault actually laughed.  "You don't need to tell _me_ that, Nino.  I mean unfinished business.  An interest that I have in a couple of old friends, and since one of them is you, you've got an interest, too."

                "So tell me already!" Nino pleaded, still overjoyed at seeing an old friend again.  But Legault's next words calmed her, made her serious, even sad, even scared.

                "I may know where Jaffar is."

                Legault cringed at the sudden hope that appeared on Nino's face.  He had phrased that badly.

                "You mean we could find him and bring him back?!  Oh, thank you Unc-"

                "Hold up, kid," said Legault, warding her away from squeezing the air out of him again.  "That's not quite right.  I don't actually know, but I've been hearing things.  Let's go back to this Castle of yours, I've been travelling cross-country for weeks.  And it wouldn't hurt to have the Lord Sage of Etruria hearing this, too."

**[Author's Notes]**  First foray into Fire Emblem fanfiction here, and it's going to be an interesting trip.  As hinted at by the title and the characters so far, the only people featured in here (excluding Erk and Louise, but they're not central) are going to be the ones filled with conflict, walking the line of good and evil.  (Don't worry, it won't be philosophical unless you look really hard.)


	2. Karel, Karla, and the Demon's Demise

**Chapter Two: Karel, Karla, and the Demon's Demise**

                "I'm sure you _would_ like to see him," Louise agreed.  "But that doesn't mean you get to."  Legault looked nonplussed by this rejection.  "I don't care, Hurricane.  Well, okay, I do care.  Jaffar helped us greatly, and doesn't deserve to be exiled for what he did as one of the Four Fangs.  But Pent and I can't keep running off like that.  Him, because occasionally the king actually bothers to ask for advice from his wisest advisor and mage-general, and me, because… well…"

                "It's all right, Lady Louise," said Legault.  "I understand."

                "…You do?" she asked, warily.

                "Milady, you absolutely radiate pregnancy.  It's entirely understandable," he confirmed, bowing.

                "Oh…" Louise muttered distractedly.  "Talk to Erk, then, he's so dependable, and we trust him.  If you'll excuse me, I must find some looser clothing…"

                "She's getting weird," Nino told him as they watched Louise trot off down the hall.

                "It happens.  Or so I'm told," he added, because he wasn't the type to admit knowledge of anything less-than-daring unless there was a considerable benefit to it.  "Anyway, you'll know where to find Erk better than I do."

                "I left him outside," Nino told the thief, starting in the opposite direction that Lady Louise had dashed off to.

                "Didn't we come in back there…?" asked Legault, twisting around and trying to get his bearings in the unfamiliar castle.

                "I said I _left_ him outside," Nino repeated.  "That was hours ago."

                Erk was, of course, poring over a massive gilt-covered tome filled with mind-bending runes and woodcuts that could only be carved from insane trees, in one of the shadowy corners of the library.  Reglay's library was one of the better ones to be found in Elibe, and mostly a bright, airy place.  Erk had managed to find the only place that didn't have too much fresh air flowing through it, but had left a window open in acknowledgement of the fact that he enjoyed the outside world these days, as long as no one made him stay there for too long.

                Legault and Nino both moved in perfect silence, a habit from their Black Fang training.  The thief moved to catch Erk's attention, but Nino stopped him with a look that said very clearly 'Oh no, I have revenge to exact'.

                Taking care not to make any noise, Nino mixed together all the fluffy excited thoughts that she could into one concentrated mass, draped it in pink, and filtered her voice through it.  "Erky!" she squealed.

                "_SERRA!_" Erk shouted.  He leapt up, flattened himself against the wall, and searched madly for an escape route.  He seemed to be considering the window when he noticed Nino, complete with satisfied smirk on her face.  "Oh," he growled, breathing heavily.  "It's just you."

                "Just us?"  Legault sounded offended.  "I might have decided for a single ponytail instead of our cleric friend's favoured style, which I have to assume she chose for balance, but I'm still a complete person.  Possibly less terrifying," he mused.

                "It's the voice.  You sound like the coming of shadows, not implacable and eternal pestering," Erk groaned, leaning on his desk.  On impulse, he looked across the room.  "Canas, shut up already."  Legault and Nino glanced back and saw that the druid was stretched out lengthwise across two soft chairs and still laughing so hard he couldn't breathe.

                "Oh, don't bother with him," said Nino, annoyed.  "Legault knows where Jaffar is!"

                "No, I don't," said the thief.  "I already told you that.  But… well, Erk, do you know what I do these days, since the last battle at the Dragon's Gate?"

                "Not really.  You seemed to think you'd become a bandit, back when we were fighting together."

                "It isn't that bad.  I left the Black Fang early, but too many others didn't."  Legault dropped into another one of the library's mightily comfortable chairs, and Nino could feel the weight of too many lives falling with him.  "So I wander a bit, from village to village.  Where there are villages, there are people, which means there are bandits to prey on those people.  I find the local groups and look for former Fangs.  If there are any, I give them a choice.  To face redemption at whatever price their victims name and try to become something like human again, or to face the blades of Hurricane."

                "I knew you'd never become a thief for real, Unc…  Legault," said Nino, tripping only for a moment in her cheerfulness.

                "Don't be too proud.  This isn't much better, but I have to hope it's right.  Anyway, I've heard rumours lately from some of the people I've met.  Usually from the Fangs who were desperate to try to get back into villages and be with common people.  They tell me that they didn't expect to be given a choice, just to be hunted and killed.  At first I thought that I just had a tougher reputation than I deserved, but eventually I heard the truth."  Legault paused, and Erk picked up on his tone.

                "Nino, could you go and find Lord Pent's tome on the known Etrurian bands of ba-" he began, but Legault cut him off.

                "No, the girl should hear this too."  He was silent for a moment, and when he closed his eyes, Nino saw again how perfectly the two halves of his scar matched.  Again she wondered where it came from, and how he had managed not to lose the eye it ran over.

                "Well, if you want me to hear it, then let me hear it," she said eventually.

                "I'm not the only one looking for old Black Fang.  Someone else is out there, finding them wherever they've gone and killing them outright.  No mercy or redemption, just death that comes and goes in the night," Legault told them at last.

                "Oh… oh no!"  Nino exclaimed.  "Jaffar's in terrible danger!  He was the strongest of the Fangs, whoever's after them must know he's out there!  After all, they… called him…"  Nino noticed the looks on Legault and Erk's faces.  Canas had propped his book up like a wall.  She was young and everyone said she was innocent (even after fighting in several battles), but that didn't mean she was any sort of fool.  "…The Angel of Death…"

                Erk swallowed.  "Nino, it's been a long time since the battle with Nergal, and we've never known where Jaffar was or… what sort of condition he's in… but we do know that he hated the Black Fang-"

                "Stop it!"  she shouted.  "I know!  Can't you see that?  I understand!"  Nino took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself.  "We have to find him."

                "Even if we could, there's no telling-" Erk began, but Nino clamped down on whatever she wanted to scream at him next and ran from the room.  He looked to Legault.  "You've known her longer than I have.  What are our chances of keeping her here if she really wants to go?"

                "I've never known her to be kept anywhere except by threat of lethal force," the thief replied, watching the door Nino had fled through.  "And you aren't going to use that."

                "What about nonlethal force?" asked Erk.

                "Try it if you want," Legault offered.  "But she has a bite like dragonkin.  You might never cast with those fingers again."

                "Right," the sage decided.  "Canas!  …Canas, not even _A Highly Drawn-Out History of Time and All Existence in a Nutshell_ is big enough for you to hide behind."

                "Actually, under the proper circumstances, it's been observed that some invertebrates can conceal themselves behind objects that should otherwise-"

                "You're not an invertebrate, Canas, just spineless."

                "What?!  This from a fellow scholar with whom I shared countless battles across Elibe?  I should think you know me better than that!  In fact, I challenge you to test our comparative courage, and I think you'll find-"

                "Thank you, oh scholarly friend.  You're going with Nino to keep an eye on her," Erk commanded smoothly.

                "…I walked right into that."

                "Yes.  And in any case, I outrank you."

                "Tough luck," said Legault, putting a commiserating hand on the druid's shoulder.

                "Legault, I outrank you too.  Guess who's going along with him?"

                "What?  I'm not in your little hierarchy!" Legault spluttered.

                "That's right.  I'm a royal attendant and you're a commoner who's been outclassed."

                "I'm a rogue, ranks don't count," the thief countered.

                "I'm a sage, I can incinerate you with one hand," Erk finished.

                "…There is a certain logic to your position."

                "Ah, the sweet sound of giving in," Erk remarked to the room in general, leaning back in his chair.  "I'd go with you, but every time I step outside I seem to manage to run into a certain pink-haired cleric, and I'm not taking any chances this time."  Remembering this in later years, Erk wondered if he had somehow discovered a spell of prophecy.

                "This is going to be a merry venture," Legault muttered to no one, standing outside the main entrance to the castle.  "A dark mage and a thief are going to guard a former Black Fang mage across the country to find an assassin called the Angel of Death who's hunting down and killing all his old associates so we can ask him very nicely to stop.  Yes.  I'm thrilled to be faced with this opportunity."

                "Good idea, try to look on the bright side," Canas agreed.

                "You don't meet a lot of people when you're a scholar, do you?" asked Legault.

                "Actually, I like to think that I have more friends than most people gather in their whole lives," the druid replied.

                "Yes, but when you say 'think', you mean you're actually referring to dead historical figures, right?  And they're not often lively, by reason of being dead?"

                "Well… yes, I suppose that's true…"  He paused, but shook off the disturbance.  "What books are you bringing?" Canas asked conversationally.

                "Books," Legault repeated.  "Thin sheets of wood pulp, covered with ink signifying words, sandwiched together between thick leather plates?  Those books?"

                "Precisely."

                "What have you got?" he asked suspiciously.

                "Well, I brought my favourite treatises on cryptozoology, and an old tome of arcane demonlore, and a few collections of studies on dragons, myths in the original Arcadian for a bit of relaxation…"

                "_NINO!_" Legault called frantically.

                "How did you know I was here?" asked the dark-lilac-robed mage, stepping out from behind a large statue of a Reglayan lion.  She was obviously packed for a long journey, and didn't seem interested in noticing that they were, too.

                "I _am_ a thief," he answered, hoping she didn't notice that he had actually been watching the doors.

                "I'm going, and you can't stop me," Nino insisted, looking at them defiantly.

                "Far from it.  We've been ordered to go along with you and see to it that no harm comes to you.  Rather, he's here to protect you and I'm here to see that he doesn't summon an entity of purest destructive force or turn himself inside out while he does it," said Legault.  Neither of them seemed to take notice.

                "Really?  Great!  I know I'll be safe with you, Uncle Legault!  Let's get going and find Jaffar!"

                "This should be most edifying.  I haven't been out on a long journey myself for some time," said Canas, far more brightly than Legault felt was at all justified.

                "I hope you brought a lot of books," he whispered to Nino.  "I'm beginning to think he eats them."

                "This might be a bit of a silly question to ask after following you for several hours, but where are we going?"  Nino and Legault knew from their travels with Eliwood that Canas wasn't a natural adventurer, and exchanged a glance before turning to see him try to catch up through the trees, breathing a bit heavily and stomping along with a walking staff.

                "If you want, we can sit down and have a long discussion about it," Legault offered.

                "What?  Oh, no, press on, of course.  I was just curious," he insisted.

                "Canas, you look like any more healthy fresh air will kill you.  You'll dry up and get blown away like those Nabata statues," said Nino.

                "Well… a bit of a break, maybe…" he relented.  Truthfully, Legault didn't mind.  The forest was a nice, cool place to stay during the hottest hours of the day, and he saw no reason to be too quick about leaving them.

                "I'm leading us southeast, to Lycia," Legault explained, setting down on a fallen tree.  "The last place I heard of being struck by this Ang…"  He caught himself starting to say 'Angel of Death', and covered it with a cough.  "…This angry person was near Ostia, and on my way to find you, I heard about another bandit group taken out even earlier than that, so I think he must be heading the same way.  We probably won't catch him right away, but we'll find out more from wherever the next place he strikes is, and then be on with it."

                "You mean to get to Reglay you had to go in the opposite direction?  Oh, that would have been the best chance to catch him," Nino moaned.

                "Maybe.  I was Black Fang too, remember," said Legault.  "And I'm not you.  There's a good chance I would have got the same treatment Jaffar's been giving-"

                "You don't know it's him!" she insisted.

                Legault sighed.  "Well… not for certain, no, you're right."

                Canas frowned.  "No, but surely we don't need absolute proof.  The circumstantial evidence in this case is quite overwhelming, and it seems foolhardy to think that-"

                "Oh, please stop him quickly," Legault asked the sky quietly.  A scream echoed through the forest, long and high.  "That wasn't quite what I had in mind," he growled, leaping up.  The thief and mage dashed into the brush.  _What a change.  Some thief I am to rush to the aid of a woman in danger…_

                But something was bothering them both about the scream, a certain quality that didn't seem right, or at least not usual.  It was familiar, too, and nagging at the backs of their minds as they ran, the way such things do.  Under logs, around boulders, over streams, and once through a mercifully short bramble they ran, finally breaking out at the edge of the trees, where all became clear.

                The difference between a normal person screaming and Karla screaming is mostly one of location.  In the second case, all the fear is gone from the screamer, and is growing at a fantastic rate inside the person being screamed at.

                "_Haa-i__!_" she barked, sweeping a steel sword downward at a large brigand, who thought surprisingly fast for one so obviously dependent on strength.  He swung his axe into the way, let Karla's blade cut into it deeply, and then fled while she tried to separate her light weapon from the massive cleaver.

                "Hi," Nino replied.  Karla turned to them sharply, but then recognized the duo.

                "This is unexpected.  Are you with them?" she asked, nodding at the rest of the rogues surrounding the glade.

                "Not bloody likely," Legault answered, frowning.  "Want help?"

                "For myself, no," Karla replied.  "However, for him…"  She gestured at the grey shape by her dropped travelling pack, and the two realised that it wasn't a rock, but a hunched figure sitting perfectly still.  Nino's already-large eyes widened.

                "Is that _Karel_?" she asked.

                "Oh yes," Karla answered, as if she hardly believed it herself.

                "But these are enemies!" Legault protested.  "Shouldn't there be rather a lot more shouting and flying bodies?"

                "This is rather the problem," the swordmaster agreed.

                Around then, the bandits decided that Karla, despite her first appearance when attacked, wasn't going to sprout horns, wings, glowing eyes (with optional fangs) and proclaim that today was their day of judgment.  As one slightly reluctant man, they attacked.

                Legault immediately moved to have his back to Karla, knowing that there were few safer things as long as she was a friend.  He didn't have the sheer strength that any of the brigands and mercenaries did, but he was so fast they tended to finish thinking of blocking at the same time his daggers struck, so it worked out anyway.  A knee and double-hand strike bent the first attacker over, providing Legault with a stepping stone to roll over and gouge at the next comer.

                Despairing of unsticking her sword from the axe in time to be useful, Karla embedded the entire mass in the first assailant to face her, then took his weapon from his belt.  It was entirely the wrong shape, but Karla was a swordmaster after all, and what they look for is ultimately the simple ability to split one big thing into several small ones.  In the famed words of Swordmaster Tzing Surashing: "If your foe has time to see your weapon is not of the proper style, you haven't killed him fast enough."

                Nino ran to Karel, knowing that eventually one of the rogues would see him as an easy target.  "Karel?  It's me, Nino.  What are you doing?"

                She didn't expect any response, really, but he turned up, and his face looked unlike anything she had ever seen on him before.  "I await the prescribed course of fate," he replied, almost cheerfully.

                "They're going to kill you!" Nino protested.

                "That is entirely possible," Karel agreed.

                "Won't you do anything?"

                "I will not meddle with destiny," was all he said.

                Nino was completely boggled.  Already one or two of the brighter enemies had started judging their chances of cutting him down before Karla or Legault could do anything about it.  She went for pride.  "Aren't you the one they tell stories about?  The deadliest swordmaster in the world?  Aren't you the Sword Demon?"

                Karel gave this serious and solemn thought.  At least she hoped he did while he stared at the grass, perfectly still.  Eventually he looked up.  "No," Karel decided, and didn't seem bothered by the thought.

                Nino stood and pulled out the book Erk had given her, determined to be helpful.  She chanted for a moment, tore the first page out and let it be claimed by ethereal blue fire as she shouted "_Thunder!_"  A bolt crashed down between a few of the brigands steeling themselves to charge, and they quickly dropped that idea.  A moment later, taking advantage of the distraction, Legault dropped them, too.

                "Isn't it meddling with destiny to _refuse_ to do anything, too?" she demanded, dropping again to one knee.  This too was a deep question for Karel.  He showed no sign of anything but contemplation as he stabbed out with lightning speed over Nino's shoulder.  She turned to see the Wo Dao move, and watched, nearly frozen, as the stealthy mercenary dropped over backwards.

                "I feel it was right to save you," Karel stated philosophically.  "And so I wonder if it would not also be permissible to act to protect myself.  You make an interesting point, Nino."

                Nino was starting to think that the old Karel had been less scary.

                She didn't get much further, though, as a heavy fist smashed down on his head, and the swordmaster folded over without complaint.  A huge arm grabbed Nino around the shoulders, pinning her arms, and a blade brushing her throat quickly kept her from struggling anyway.

                "Hold up, then," growled the berserker, and his voice was good enough at commanding that Karla and Legault were hesitating even before they saw Nino in danger.  "I've had enough of this.  I take the time to put together a fairly good band of brigands and then you folks come along and cut half of them up?  Not having any of that.  Now, let's discuss how you can get out of here with a chance of keeping your lives."

                Six orbs of darkness, fading from pure black to deep violet at their edges, spiralled down and blasted the hulking man away.  Nino fell too, but more because the shock of impact had hit her than because the berserker had any control of his arms left.

                "Not too badly hurt, I hope," said Canas, emerging from the undergrowth as the remaining raiders scattered.  "It can be hard to aim Luna without being seen, and elder magic has never been much for precision, either.  Where are they all going?"

                "I think they got a look at you," said Legault, slowly.

                "Ha ha, very funny," the druid said sarcastically.  "Seriously, it was only one spell."

                "He _was_ serious, Canas," said Nino, crawling out from under the heavy arm of the prone bandit leader.  Canas looked down at himself and encountered, somewhat to his surprise, the thick and ceremonial dark robes of a powerful elder mage.  Even his face had been covered in shadow, and only his eyes glowed yellow.

                "Oh, blast.  This happens every time I try to cast a single dark spell, you know that?  It's really quite inconvenient."  He pushed back the hood with long, ragged-robed arms and inhaled like a swimmer coming up for air.  "Is that Karel lying over there?  Is he dead?!"

                "No, just aching a bit," Karel replied, muffled by the grass.  He sounded almost cheerful.

                Legault and Canas both looked at Karla.  "We have got to hear this," they stated.


	3. Cloak Deep In Mysteries

**Chapter Three: Cloak-Deep In Mysteries**

"I can't help but notice," Canas remarked as he folded up his new and unwanted Druid robes, "that Karel is… different from the way I remember him being. When we were last on the Dread Isle, that is."

"That's true," said Karla, who was applying a healing patch to her brother's injury. He was a different man from they remembered, but still tried to refuse healing for all but the most life-threatening wounds. "It's important not to mention certain words now," she added quietly. "Don't say 'feast', for one thing."

"Do I want to know why?" asked Legault, watching the rest of them from a few feet away with the trained eye of a thief and spy.

"Probably not," Karla replied. "Don't mention the name of the sword, either."

"Which sword?" asked Canas.

"How many named swords do you know?" Karla countered sarcastically.

"Well, there is of course Durandal, the Mani and Sol Katti, mighty Falchion, the holy blade Tylfing from ages past, the famous Wo-"

"Whoa!" Karla interjected, holding her hands up to stop him.

"Yes, Wo something," Canas agreed. "Can't quite remember now…"

"Are you okay, Karel?" asked Nino. She knelt in the grass beside the swordmaster, trying to figure what was different about his face. It might have been something in the eyes, a softening that made them warmer and less like shards of diamond reflecting the infinite abyss of death.

"I am better than I have been in many, many years," he replied. "Except possibly for the rather severe blow to the head I received a few moments ago, but such things cannot always be helped."

"There is definitely something wrong with him. Karla, what happened?" asked Legault.

"It's rather a long story. Actually, it's a short story, but it has taken a long time. After we left Lord Eliwood's army at the port, which Karel insisted that we do as quickly as possible, he travelled directly to Nabata Desert. We spent weeks in the sands– rather, Karel did, and I followed as well as I could."

"Were you searching for some family relic?" Canas suggested.

"No," Karla replied. "I believe Karel was searching for absolution."

A breeze through the trees was the only sound as they considered this. Well, Canas and Legault considered it. Karla had done all her considering long ago, Nino still didn't know the word, and Karel was watching a ladybug crawl along his index finger.

"Most people would have sought out a priest of some sort," Canas remarked.

"He's probably killed too many to think of them as anything but men," said Legault. Karla looked at him sharply, but couldn't reliably tell the thief off. Bishops and monks were known for their mastery of light magic as a force of good, but to Karel the Sword Demon, enemies were nothing more complicated than a collection of vulnerable spots.

"And how did you arrive here in Etruria? We do border on the Nabata desert, but it seems a long way to march and for little purpose," said Canas.

"When I can get him to talk directly to me, instead of the world at large, he says that we have a mission to complete." Karla looked at her brother with dissatisfaction. "But he won't ever say what. I'm not even sure he's sane now. That's why I'm still travelling with him."

"If no one is ever Sain again, it will be too many," Legault muttered.

"What are you looking for, Karel?" asked Nino. Her bodyguard-thief leapt up, with the intent of tackling her out of the way before Karel could try to kill her in a psychotic rage, but Karla held him back by the collar of his cloak, and she was right. The Swordmaster looked at Nino with no more malice than a rabbit.

"I seek the same one that you do," said Karel. "The last of the dragon's undead army."

The temperature of the forest seemed to fall so low as to chill blood in living veins. Legault looked sharply at Karla. "Has there been more than one dragon in the greater lands of Elibe in the last several centuries?"

"Only the one we fought, alongside Lord Eliwood," Canas volunteered. "And of course the residents of Arcadia, which is hidden deep… in the Nabata… desert…" The Druid trailed off as he recalled where Karel had been for some weeks or months now.

"Go on, Nino," said Legault quietly. "He'll talk to you."

The little mage began to fidget, now that she had a mission to complete and superiors watching over her. Her eyes searched the ground and their surroundings wildly, as if expecting to read inspiration in the oak bark. "Um… Karel…?"

"Yes?"

Nino almost shook. It was like talking to some hero's tiger companion– the creature could look tame, even friendly, but the was no way of forgetting for long that the decision _not_ to deliver a sharp and instantly fatal blow still rested with the predator. "Who asked you to find the… the…"

"The killer?" Nino nodded, trying to watch his eyes. They hardened a little as he spoke, but still seemed as honest and true as any other of Lord Eliwood's Army. …Perhaps even more than Vaida, acidic warrior that she was. "I was not asked. I was shown, and I chose."

"And… and the dragon?"

Karel smiled. It was a totally unfamiliar look for him. "Don't you know that story? Surely someone told it to you, Nino. The tale of the Dragon's Fang."

"Fang?" Nino repeated, startled. "…Karel, are you… _sure_ you're searching for… Jaffar?"

"To seek the last killer and to seek Jaffar, Angel of Death, are one and the same," Karel replied.

"No!" The little mage leapt to her feet and looked at Legault and Canas, demanding with her eyes that they explain the truth to him. "No, it isn't! Jaffar wouldn't…"

"Nino," said Canas, quietly, "it seems undeniable he _would_. In eradicating the last of an evil force he–"

"Jaffar wouldn't _eradicate_ anyone! He's not like that any more!" Nino shouted.

"The Dragon's Fang is not so merciful," Karel stated. "He seeks to kill, without passion or question."

"What is the Dragon's Fang?" Canas asked. "I've heard the legend, of course, but I had never thought it had any basis in reality."

"I've no idea what _either_ of you are talking about," Legault added.

"According to ancient Etrurian mythology, if a dragon should ever be killed in battle, its fangs will fall from its jaws and rise again as an army of mighty wraith warriors to continue the fight. It sounds to me as if someone we defeated in Lord Eliwood's campaign has done the same," Canas said, looking meaningfully at Karel, who quickly explained.

"The creature Nergal's death triggered a spell that reawakened his perfect assassin to fulfil a final command. To prevent any possible treachery, Nergal made sure the leaders of the Black Fang knew that his downfall would ensure their death at the hands of an unstoppable warrior, one who would seek out every last Fang and slay them without hesitation," said Karel. It was likely the longest speech he had ever given without slashing anything.

"…How do you know this?" asked Canas.

The swordmaster turned to the south, staring as if trying to see over the horizon, and whispered: "We see the desert and it appears to us as Nothing. But where else can Everything be except where there is enough Nothing to hold it?"

The wind howled.

"That was among the freakiest things I've ever heard," Legault murmured to Karla.

"…You're the Hurricane, assassin among the darkest assassins," Karla said, uncertainly.

"Just to put things in perspective, yes."

"Well, it sounds as though Karel has some idea of where we need to go next," Canas said meaningfully. He got various looks from the rest of the gathered warriors, but they were nothing new to a slightly eccentric and reclusive scholar. "I'm simply suggesting that we should take advantage of new information."

"I do not know the location of Jaffar," Karel stated.

"But you said you were searching for the killer," Legault reminded him, avoiding Nino's glare.

"I believe I know the direction to travel. Do you all wish to join me?" he asked pleasantly, as though flattered by all the attention. This version of the Sword Demon was at least as disturbing as the old one.

While Canas graciously accepted the invitation, Legault tilted his head toward Karla. "Why, exactly, do you think this is the real Karel and not some kind of especially tricky demon that infected his soul and now inhabits his body like a puppetmaster?"

"I realise that's much more likely," Karla agreed, "but there's too much of him left that's like the brother I remember from my earliest years."

"Like what?"

"I have only ever known Karel to drink yogurt by the pint."

Legault's face morphed into a portrait of fascinated revulsion. "That's _terrifying_."

"We're ready to continue," Canas interjected.

"The Dragon's Fang is southeast of here, heading for the border of Bern," he said, getting to his feet and setting out towards the break among the trees, through which they could see the foothills of Lycia's mountain range.

"Of course," the thief said, wondering why he hadn't guessed. "He's heading home, to where the Black Fang began."

"We can take the pass at Ostia, then continue on to the port at Ryerde, find passage on a ship, and dock again at the southern edge of Pherae," Canas decided, holding open a map of central Elibe.

"Just don't lead us to a city that only existed during the time of the Scouring or something, will you?" Legault requested.

"I am not that foolish!" Canas insisted. "All my historical maps are in my _left_…" The druid trailed off as he produced a scroll from another deep pocket and compared the two. "Hmm. Fortunately for us, the city of Ryerde hasn't moved in over four hundred years."

"Karla?" Legault asked wearily. She stepped up and snatched the up-to-date map out of Canas' hands, sliding into her belt like a companion for her blade.

"Just don't draw it at the wrong moment and educate our foes when you should be fighting them," Canas grumbled back, but they took no notice.

* * *

"It feels strange not to be hunted any more," Canas said, just after sunset. Was still saying, in fact; the shaman was by far the most talkative member of the group, with Nino in her current state, and it seemed Canas only found silence comforting when he was on his own. 

"When were you ever hunted?" Karla asked, frowning.

"Well, when travelling with Lord Eliwood, we were all thrown into dangerous situations on a regular basis, and frequently had to make fighting retreats or shake off pursuit. There were particularly unpleasant incidents in Bern when we stumbled upon a wild wyvern eyrie, and the matrons harassed us for days after our escape."

"Riveting," she said flatly.

"I sense that I'm the only member of our group at all concerned with maintaining good spirits on this journey," Canas protested.

"I'm trying desperately to find someone who probably wants to kill me for being the Hurricane, and her brother has invented a new flavour of crazy," Legault pointed out.

"I'm helping," Nino informed him, turning around and presenting a chain of woven flowers.

"…You're making yourself a crown of wild roses?"

"Rebecca showed me how it works. And Karel doesn't need another, so I thought maybe his sister would like a matching one." Expectantly, Legault looked to Karel, whose hair was indeed ringed with the white blossoms. He smiled harmlessly.

"I have come to the conclusion that there is an important difference between engaging in combat to prevent death and being the one to initiate combat," he volunteered.

"This just isn't going to do," Legault said, quietly and darkly.

"Someone's just lit a campfire!" Nino said brightly. Among the shadowy rolling lands ahead, a yellow flare had just sparked to life, but it was too far to illuminate any of the people who might have started it.

"Stay here, I'll see what's up," the thief told them, mostly meaning Nino.

"It's probably just a brushfire, in any case," Canas said. "Who would cross the highlands when the main road from Ostia is so frequently travelled by carts willing to take passengers?"

"That's what I intend to find out, and at the moment I… where's Nino?" Legault asked.

"My sister is following her," Karel said, nodding in the direction of the fire.

"You used to be more helpful," the thief remarked, dashing away into the shadows.

"I used to be many things. I think I changed my mind," the swordmaster stated.

Nino rushed through the long grass, trying to remember all the things she had been taught about quick and quiet movement during her few years as a Black Fang. She was only a messenger, but some things were taught to everyone, and Nino learned fast. …With Sonia as her adopted mother, she had to.

The campfire was further away than she had originally expected, the way beacons in the darkness often are. Nino found herself breathing hard before very long, but refused to slow down. Karel might have known the right direction to go to find Jaffar, but there was no reason to think he was all the way to Bern yet. The sooner she found him, the sooner she could prove to the others that Jaffar wasn't under one of Nergal's spells, and then…

Before Nino could decide exactly what would happen then, she was taking the last few unsteady strides into the firelight. The fire had been almost a mile away, but that was even further for someone who had been walking all day – and however reluctant she was to admit it, still not quite being five feet tall probably had its own limitations, too.

The fire rumbled and snapped as she approached, but the area around it was entirely bare. Nature didn't stack wood into a pyramid, so it couldn't have been a brushfire like Canas had said as she took off, but where was the traveller?

"Nino?" The little mage spun around, but looking into the fire had eliminated her night vision. "Nino, is that really you? What are you doing here, of all places? And who are you running from?"

"Nino!" Legault called, charging up behind her. "I told you to stay put!"

"_You_." It was the same mystery voice, but filled with hatred instead of honest surprise. A hero walked into the light, armored in brown with red spikes. Vaguely, Nino thought she might have seen him before, but she couldn't place when.

"Tobin?" Legault said, recalling the name of a Fang who had deserted the group during their flight from Bern. "What are you doing here?"

"Setting a trap for you, monster. You might look like the Hurricane, but you're not going to defeat me in an honest fight." With that, the mighty mercenary drew a tomahawk from his belt and let it fly, nearly taking Legault's head off. The thief rolled under the blade and came to his feet in front of Tobin, just in time to catch a down-swinging steel blade with his daggers.

"What are you doing!" Nino yelped.

"Don't worry, little one, I can handle this," said Tobin, which didn't really explain anything.

"That's Legault, you idiot!" That Nino would insult anyone was a mark of just how strained the day's events had made her – could it really have been only this morning that she went herb-picking for Erk?

"No, it isn't!" Tobin declared, gouging out a chunk of earth where the thief had just been standing. "I'll explain when I'm done, just stay back. Do you think the real Legault would have been chasing you like that?"

"I was trying to keep her from getting mixed up in more trouble," Legault stated, parrying a series of quick thrusts and sweeps. "You can see how well it worked out, of course."

"You're awfully talkative for a soulless drone," the hero growled.

"That's a bit personal," Legault chided him. "Why can't I ever have polite attackers?"

Nino saw the manoeuvre coming together– Tobin lowered briefly, pulling his tomahawk from where it had embedded itself in the ground, and hurled it immediately in a rising arc. The only way for Legault to avoid the attack was to bend acrobatically backwards, putting himself off balance. Tobin then kicked out, dropping the Hurricane onto his back, and brought his blade down for a killing stroke.

It was lucky that Nino was so observant, because she had time to chant the spell of Thunder, and a blue bolt of electric magic blasted the focused hero right over Legault's prone form. Legault leapt awkwardly to his feet, and immediately checked his opponent's condition.

"He's alive. That's quite impressive," he reported.

"…I asked the spirits not to hurt him too badly," Nino said, still wondering what could have just happened. "I guess they listened."

"What the devil was he talking about?" Legault wondered as he produced some sturdy rope and began binding the defeated hero. "I'm pretty sure I'm still me."

"You… really are… difficult to… travel with…" Canas wheezed, arriving at last with Karla and Karel jogging easily on either side of him.

"You're the druid – find a magical solution," Legault told him.

"I would rather… not invite elder wraiths… into my body, thank you," the dark mage replied.

"You work quickly," Karla observed, nudging Tobin with her toe.

"It was Nino. This man is a former Black Fang, but from what he said, it sounded like he's been looking for me, and not in anything like a good way. This was a trap; don't ask me why," Legault said.

"Should we wait and talk to him later?" Nino asked.

"I don't intend to run all through the night," Canas stated.

"All right. He's picked a good campsite, let's use it," the thief agreed. "Someone should stay awake, though, in case Tobin –the hero– wakes up."

"I can watch," Karel volunteered.

"…You'll actually warn us if he breaks free with intent to kill?" Legault asked, sceptically.

"_Excellent_ plan," Karel said, suggesting it wouldn't have occurred to him otherwise.

Legault let out a long sigh and lay down near the fire, spreading his cloak as a shield against the wind and the fire's intense heat. "You might as well rest for a while, Nino. We're not getting any closer to him today."

She chose a place on the other side of the blaze, letting gold light flicker across emerald hair as she looked up at the constellations. Nino would sit and stare for a long time yet, until Karla finally forced her to get some sleep. The night was the time of the Black Fang. Somewhere out there, she knew, Jaffar was just waking up.


End file.
